Today I posted this on my FaceBook page:

I’m reading Jacqueline Winspear’s “Maisie Dobbs” books and this question was put to Maisie Dobbs in the current book I’m reading:

The above quotation is my paraphrasing of a question put to Maisie Dobbs in an interview. I like to ponder the imponderable questions in life.  Especially when the question strikes close to home in my own creative life and struggles.

As an illustrator, editors, art directors, and book designers like to see what an illustration or entire book will look like before the finished art is completed.  This is always a peril for me because once I have worked out the composition for an illustration, and can see exactly how it will look as a finished piece (in my mind), the illustration is finished.  I pretty much lose interest in the picture but still have to do the finished hands on work to create the finished illustration that will appear in a book.

So, when I came across the question as to “When is art real?” it gave me pause to understand why I struggle so much in finishing the art for a book.  In my mind once I know what it’s going to look like it’s finished.